02 AUGUST 2015

In today’s edition of Ask The Editor (ATE), we take another look at the unusual Manny Pacquiao vs. Oscar De La Hoya super fight on December 6, make an early grab at picking a winner for Antonio Tarver vs. Chad Dawson and preview this coming weekend’s big lightweight fight between Joel Casamayor and Juan Manuel Marquez. We review a couple of questions sent in before Amir Khan’s shock 1st round knockout, nominate our favourite boxing movies and much more.

Name : Joseph LimCountry : CanadaYour Question : Hello and first of all thank you for the wonderful work you’ve done on your website. My question for the team is this. Has Pacman bitten off more than he can chew? This is a fight to me that looks like a great pay day for Manny, and a low risk legacy tarnishing fight for Oscar De La Hoya. While I am a huge Manny fan being a Filipino and former amateur boxer myself, I didn’t want this fight to happen. Instead of taking the best welterweight out there, in the dangerous Tijuana Tornado Margarito, Oscar has opted for the, much smaller and safer fight with Manny. I had great respect for Oscar and his career up until this point. But the smell of “Chicken De La Hoya” that this one stinks of isn’t pleasant to say the least. It’s downright putrid. Oscar is just too big. What happened to all the talk from ODH the last few years about how desperately he wants a WAR to cement his legacy? Margarito would give him one. Funny enough I would pick Oscar to win that one by KO. While Margarito has shown he has a granite chin, Oscar still has the pop in that left hook, and as we all saw in the great battle against Cotto, Margarito gets hit, and hit often. I give Manny zero chance of winning this one, not only that, I see him losing by a vicious KO. This will look like when Roy Jones moved to heavy, yet instead of Ruiz facing Lennox Lewis. What do you guys think?

CLIVE BERNATH ANSWERS: Joseph, I agree with you, other than the money this fight does nothing for Oscar’s legacy at all. In fact I believe it harms him. As for Pacquiao, if he pulls it off I’d have to say this would be the biggest upset of the last 25 years. Pacquiao will be lucky to weigh 140lbs on the night, while Oscar could walk into the ring at around 152lbs, maybe more. Even that conservative weight difference is far too much at the lower weights.

GREG JUCKETT ANSWERS: Joseph, I agree that De La Hoya is too big for Pacquiao. Both guys are maxing their earning potential in this fight by taking advantage of each other’s popularity. The fight will sell, but I’m not fooled either.

PAUL UPHAM ANSWERS: No doubt, De La Hoya should be fighting Antonio Margarito. By fighting Pacquiao, I suspect Oscar sees it as a way of regaining his No.1 pound for pound ranking before retiring. I’m not sure he would be ranked No.1 if he wins. How much credit does he deserve. Though, I’m not sure this is the easy fight that everyone thinks it is. Everyone is saying De La Hoya will win, but I give Pacquiao a good chance of winning on points.

MICHAEL NORBY ANSWERS: Pacman may have bitten off a lot more than he can chew with this one I’m afraid. He will be paid handsomely and if he loses (and I expect him to lose) he can say he gave it a go, take his pay check and continue to beat up lightweights. Money, obviously, is the only reason that this fight is taking place.

Name : Stephen NorrieCountry :United KingdomYour Question : What do you feel about the legitimacy of the proposed De La Hoya-Pacquiao fight? On boxing terms it seems an absolute farce. Pacquiao is moving up two weight classes from a weight he has only just moved to. DLH is starving himself to get to a weight he possibly cannot even make. One would not expect either to be at their best as a result. Moreover, it’s hard to see what good will come of it. If Oscar wins, all it amounts to is a light middleweight beating up a lightweight. No one would consider it a significant career achievement. Conversely, Freddie Roach thinks Pacquiao can win because Oscar “can no longer pull the trigger” - i.e. he effectively admits his man can win only because Oscar is too old for elite level boxing. So whilst a Pacman win would be kind of impressive, it would be so more as a circus-show feat of weight defiance, rather than as a feat of elite boxing. It’d be impressive if Pacquiao beat Butterbean, wouldn’t it? At the same time, the fight is getting in the way of real elite contests at lightweight and welterweight, and runs the risk of ruining Pacquiao for those contests.

CLIVE BERNATH ANSWERS: Steven, I pretty much said the same thing in an article last week. It will be a blown up lightweight against a solid junior-middle. Neither man will be at his best. Pacquiao may well put on extra weight and De La Hoya could well be weak at 147lbs. From a health point of view this fight could have a detrimental effect to both men.

GREG JUCKETT ANSWERS: Stephen, De La Hoya-Pacquiao is all about the money. You clearly know your boxing, but I would disagree with you that De La Hoya isn’t still an elite fighter. I think Oscar is still performing at a very high level. He’s never really been beat up and other than the Hopkins fight, when De La Hoya loses, he doesn’t lose by much. Also, I’ve always believed that welterweight was in fact De La Hoya’s best weight and still is now.

PAUL UPHAM ANSWERS: It will be interesting to see how much De La Hoya has to drain himself to make welterweight. He hasn’t been there since 2001. The fight is bizarre. I still say it is all about Oscar wanting to be pound for pound No.1 again. If Manny wasn’t the best fighter in the world today, would De La Hoya still be fighting him? I say no. It would be a career defining win for the Pacman if he could pull off a win. Forget being elected as a politician in the Philippines, his millions and millions of fans there would make him King!

MICHAEL NORBY ANSWERS: I agree with you, Stephen. Not too sure what Freddie Roach is talking about? Oscar still has a lethal left hook and it won’t take too many of those to knockout the much smaller Pacman. The real losers in all of this are those Pacquiao fanatics from the Philippines who will sell their cars and do anything they can to raise the money to travel to America for this ridiculous spectacle.

Name : Rick SimonCountry : USAYour Question : I’m looking forward to the Chad Dawson-Antonio Tarver fight. Is Tarver too old now to handle Dawson? I really like Dawson’s skills.

CLIVE BERNATH ANSWERS: I thought Glen Johnson was too old but he was mighty unlucky not to get the nod against Dawson last time. If Tarver is serious about the Dawson fight, I think he can nick it.

GREG JUCKETT ANSWERS: Rick, I don’t think Tarver is over the hill, but you can never predict which Tarver will show up. Until I see otherwise, I think Dawson is a bit overrated, so I’m picking Tarver.

PAUL UPHAM ANSWERS: I’m expecting a close fight. At some stage Tarver’s age has to affect his performances. I like Dawson over the distance in a close fight. Greg makes a good point though. You just never know which Tarver is going to step into the ring.

MICHAEL NORBY ANSWERS: I like Dawson too, Rick but do not count Tarver out on this one. He’s a seasoned, technically sound and strong southpaw and I wouldn’t be surprised to see the former champ hand the young lion his first loss.

Name : Sam DuncanCountry : USAYour Question : After his close win over Mike Katsidis, the Cuban Joel Casamayor looks like he is past his best days. Are you expecting my Mexican favourite Juan Manuel Marquez to knock him out into retirement on September 13?

CLIVE BERNATH ANSWERS: I certainly think Marquez wins but Casamayor may just have enough left in the tank to see him through the last round.

GREG JUCKETT ANSWERS: Sam, it’s hard to say with Casamayor. There have definitely been times that the Cuban appears to be at the end of the line, but then he will surprise you and look good again. I have a feeling his upcoming fight against Marquez will be fought at a highly competitive level.

PAUL UPHAM ANSWERS: I like Marquez in this fight over the distance, but Casamayor has the boxing skills to trouble the Mexican. The effectiveness of Marquez’ pressure will be the key to this fight. The inexperienced Katsidis let Casamayor off the hook when he knocked the Cuban great through the ropes. Marquez won’t make the same mistake if he gets the chance, not that it will be an easy fight for him.

MICHAEL NORBY ANSWERS: I fancy Marquez to win quite convincingly, Sam. It’s quite clear that Casamayor is past his best – there is a big difference between the raw style of Katsidis and a master boxer like Marquez. Too bad Pacman is fooling around with DLH instead of treating fans to a real fight – a third match-up with the Mexican star later in the year.

Name : Chris RyanCountry : United KingdomYour Question : How has Amir Khan come to being ranked at No.2 by the WBO? Surely he can’t even be top 10 yet. Has he boxed anyone at his own weight to justify this high ranking, as most of his opponents are super feathers etc? How can he be ranked higher than Yuri Romanov the European champion who is a much better prospect?

CLIVE BERNATH ANSWERS: That’s a question we must ask the WBO. After being badly knocked last weekend I doubt he will be now.

GREG JUCKETT ANSWERS: Chris, as you know by now, rankings are suddenly the least of Khan’s problems.

PAUL UPHAM ANSWERS: You were right Chris! A great spot before Amir’s knockout loss last weekend.

MICHAEL NORBY ANSWERS: It was a bizarre ranking for the supposed young star at that stage of his career. We have now seen Amir Khan knocked out in one round. But I question whether Romanov is a better prospect. The Belarusian has lost twice in his career already including a 2006 defeat at the hands of Graham Earl, who Khan blew away in the first round.

Name : Garry OhareCountry : United KingdomYour Question : Hey guys, just wanting to get your opinions on the Amir Khan fight being on sky pay-per-view? Prescott could be a great fighter for all I know but the whole card just doesn’t warrant pay-per-view status in my eyes. Amir has not even fought for the European championship yet never mind for the world titles, pay-per-view fights should be world title fights or at least world class bouts. Naseem and Ricky were exciting and brought value for money in their own ways, but watching all of Amir Khan’s fights so far, I just think it is too early to be putting him on pay per view. I know people will pay to watch it but I just think it’s unjustified. Another question guys. Who was Ricky Hatton’s first pay-per-view fight. Was it vs. Kostya Tszyu, I can’t remember?

CLIVE BERNATH ANSWERS: I could not agree more, Garry. But if the fans bought it and Sky reach required buys then their decision will be justified. Personally I do not feel the fight warranted PPV status

GREG JUCKETT ANSWERS: Garry, Khan clearly didn’t warrant PPV status, but paradoxically many people probably bought the Prescott fight to see Khan get licked, so they got their money’s worth. Not sure, but I think Hatton’s first PPV was against Tszyu.

PAUL UPHAM ANSWERS: Unfortunately pay-per-views are becoming the norm instead of the one off for genuine super fights. Consider that Australian boxing fans are being treated to a pay-per-view (PPV) special of Bob Mirovic vs. John Hopoate this week. PPV means more money for the promoters and the boxers in the short term, but all it is doing is strangling the life out of boxing’s fan base. How can you promote a sport when the main stream can’t watch it and you are shrinking rather than expanding the number of viewers? Interestingly, in recent times American Bob Arum has conceded that he and other promoters have hurt the long term prospects of boxing by taking the PPV route too often instead of taking the sport to the masses.

MICHAEL NORBY ANSWERS: I had watched Prescott in his last fight before knocking out Amir Khan – it was a dreadfully boring split decision victory over Richard Abril. Prescott has a powerful punch as is now seen by everyone after his KO of Khan, but his level of opponent prior to this win has been low and he seems to abandon boxing in his effort to land that right hand. Khan’s speed and better technique should have been enough to win a wide decision and retain his unbeaten record. But it wasn’t to be. It was not a main event that I would consider even close to pay-per-view worthy, unless of course you wanted to see Khan get knocked out that way, but that’s the boxing world we live in these days I’m afraid.

Name : Thomas PeakCountry : United KingdomYour Question : Hello guys, just read about Frank Warren’s 20 fight deal with Sky Box Office and I would be interested to know whether this means no more top British boxing on Setanta? Frank Warren does more than anybody to help and promote British boxing but he also seems to do more than anybody to harm it. Does the guy have short term memory loss? Can he not remember what happened last time he built up a great stable of fighters on national terrestrial television then suddenly signed to Sky Sports? The predicted sudden rush of people enrolling to Sky Sports and paying the huge pay per view prices never happened. Instead, people stopped watching boxing. It took a good few years building up boxing on television again with Hatton and Calzaghe etc. on ITV and then Setanta (which because of its cheap monthly price compared to Sky and the fact that it does not try and charge you extra for pay per view, I more or less consider it a terrestrial station) to re-build boxing in this country to the point where it is so close to being the second most dominant sport on these shores that it is now. I foresaw this happening after Sports Networks outburst at Setanta for signing a deal to televise David Hayes next ten fights/promotions. would love to hear your thoughts on this conundrum and perhaps Thomas Hauser could do an expose on the television politics of British boxing the way he did on HBO.

CLIVE BERNATH ANSWERS: Thomas. You’re right what your saying to a certain degree. But what I will say is all concerned must be making money otherwise the TV companies would not pay for the rights. And if the TV companies and Frank Warren are making money then the money can only be coming from one place - the FANS. We all talk about the quality of fights but we still subscribe or buy them don’t we?

PAUL UPHAM ANSWERS: Some great points you make there Thomas. It will be interesting to see what happens with the Sky deal in lieu of Amir Khan’s knockout. As I said above, pay-per-view boxing only hurts the sport. I don’t have a problem with having pay-per-view for genuine super fights, but promoters must build the sport by taking it to the general public as much as possible. It is not easy, as all promoters will tell you. Frank Warren has been a successful boxing promoter for many years and it will be interesting to see how he rebounds from his current Amir crisis.

CLIVE BERNATH ANSWERS: Hi Gary. Remember Somebody Up There Likes Me? The film was the life story of former middleweight champ Rocky Graziano. I also like On the Waterfront.

GREG JUCKETT ANSWERS: Gary, I don’t have a favourite because there are many boxing movies I like. I thought Joe And Max from 2002 was excellent. Also check out the new Primo Carnera movie called Carnera: The Walking Mountain, directed by Renzo Martinelli.

PAUL UPHAM ANSWERS: Rocky has to be a top choice of most fans. I really enjoyed Clint Eastwood’s Million Dollar Baby. It was a documentary, but I always loved When We Were Kings, the story of the “Rumble in the Jungle” with Muhammad Ali and George Foreman. I went and saw it three times at the cinema when it first came out.

MICHAEL NORBY ANSWERS: There are only a few movies that, even though I own on DVD, I’ll still watch if they come on TV on any given night. Jaws, Dirty Harry, Bullitt and my favourite boxing movie, Rocky.